Max Verstappen completed the most dominant performance seen by a Formula One driver in history during the 2023 season. The triple world champion broke no less than seventeen records some of which had stood for over half a century.
Of course some suggest it was merely car specific, yet his six time Grand Prix winning team mate was unable to extract a fraction of the performance from the RB19 that Verstapen proved capable of doing.
Verstappen told to be more “diplomatic”
Along with his status as the number one driver in Formula One, Verstappen has become vocal over many of the issues facing the modern F1 drivers as their schedule has almost doubled in terms of racing over the past two decades.
Martin Brundle has now criticised the world champion for being so outspoken and criticised him for a lack of “balance” and diplomacy.
In his Sky column Brundle wrote: “[Verstappen] had a very vocal downer on Las Vegas, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense to express in that way, although he warmed up to the event on race day after yet another victory.
“I like that Max speaks his mind and I’ve always found him very refreshing to interview, and also simply to chat to in the paddock. He’s very direct and honest, what you see is what you get, and he clearly doesn’t care all that much what others think.
“I can’t help but feel that a little more diplomacy and balance would be more fitting to the legacy he will leave, and after all, we are all only guardians of this great sport as we pass through.”
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Other F1 greats outspoken in nature
Brundle appears to forget the legacy of other great F1 champions like Senna who fought a career long battle with the FIA and Sir Jackie Stewart who regularly slated the organisers of the sport for their flagrant disregard for driver safety – to name but two.
Max has attracted the ire of a section of fans who have regularly booed him at various points in the season. This was particularly evident in Silverstone where clearly those rooting for Lewis Hamilton appear to hold a grudge against the Dutch driver for ‘stealing’ Lewis’ title back in 2021.
Verstappen was booed again in Abu Dhabi following his record 19th win of the season and Brundle describes this as a “”villain” status but claims he doesn’t understand why this is the case.
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“wild” early years par for the course
“Max didn’t get everything right, for example when the drivers walked out to the grid for the traditional end-of-season group photograph there were some boos as he emerged, as we’ve heard at some other tracks too,” mused the ex-F1 driver.
“Of course, he was feisty and a little wild as a teenager when first racing in F1, but he sorted that out and is mostly a model of calm out on track now, and as fair as anybody else when it comes to hard racing.
“I don’t understand why he’s still seen as the villain, but the fans will make up their own minds.”
Of course Max was “a little wild” as he pushed the limits joining the sport at just age 17 but he has not been alone in overstepping the boundaries as a ‘newish’ driver and even the great Lewis Hamilton had a phase in his career when he and Felipe Massa appeared to be attached by a bungee cord.
Max threatens F1 over the Sprint
Verstappen was also highly critical of the revised Sprint weekend format this season which saw the number of events double from three to six, and at the recent F1 commission the owners of the sport wish to increase this further.
When asked about the first Sprint of the year, Max replied: “I hope there won’t be too many changes, otherwise I won’t be around for too long.
“I am not a fan of it [Sprint events] at all. When we do all that kind of stuff, the weekend becomes very intense and we already do a lot of races.”
Vertsappen knows all too well the reason for the Sprint being created which is to sell more tickets on the often less than capacity Friday sessions which are just practice for the F1 drivers and teams.
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Mini Sprint championship results
“I understand they want to make every day exciting but they should reduce the weekend, and only qualify and race on Saturday and Sunday and make those two days exciting.
“We are heading into seasons where we could have 24 or 25 races and if you then start adding more it is not worth it for me. I will not enjoy that.”
It has been suggested that the Sprint events should form a second mini F1 championship and interesting below are the results for this year together with there adjusted place in brackets when compared to the final F1 table.
1 Max Verstappen 45 (=)
2 Sergio Perez 25 (=)
3 Carlos Sainz 22 (+1)
4 Lando Norris 21 (+2)
5 Charles Leclerc 21 (+2)
6 George Russell 18 (+2)
7 Lewis Hamilton 17 (-4)
8 Oscar Piastri 15 (+1)
9 Fernando Alonso 8 (-4)
10 Pierre Gasly 8 (=)
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Mercedes perform worse at Sprint weekends
Most interesting is the Mercedes pair failing to make the stop five which proves the team need more setup time than the rest to ensure their car is competitive for the Grand Prix weekend.
Whilst Verstappen won four of the six with Piastri and Perez picking up the other two gold medals, the Dutch champion only claimed pole position on three occasions with Leclerc, Piastri and Norris picking up the honours at the other three.
The Sprint was again thrown into the spotlight in Austin Texas, where Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were disqualified for running their cars too low during the race on Sunday.
Of course this would have been due in part to the reduced practice time from three to just one hour as the teams take a punt on setup Friday afternoon when Grand Prix qualifying begins and the cars are locked in for the rest of the weekend.
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Verstappen admits Red Bull less prepared
The rare embarrassment of having cars disqualified in F1 was an opportunity for Max to once again have a pop at the much disliked weekend format.
“We should just get rid of the sprint weekend and then everyone can just set up their cars normally.”
“It wouldn’t have happened that we would have had a normal race weekend. These things only happen when you have a sprint weekend where everything is so rushed into your in-between FP1 and qualifying.
Whilst Max was triumphant in Vegas, the Red Bull advantage was somewhat mitigated and the lead of the Grand Prix changed hands an unusual 6 times. Verstappen explained this was due to th elack of setup time and that Red Bull had run their car too high following the debacle in Austin.
“From our side, I think we went a bit too conservative, but that’s still better than the other way.”
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F1 Sprint format up for change again
A solution to the lost setup time on Sprint weekends will be discussed at the next F1 commission which agrees the sporting rules before sending the to th eWorld motorsport Council for ratification.
The Grand Prix qualifying on Friday afternoon will be switched to Sprint qualifying with the shortened race taking place on Saturday morning. The cars will only be declared in arc ferme before Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday afternoon thus allowing the teams more time to rectify set cup mistakes made during the first hour of practice.
The problem with changing the parc ferme rules is they add significant jeopardy into a Sprint weekend where the top teams can get it wrong as Mercedes proved this year. his in turn delivers a few more surprises rather than the same drivers and teams finishing in the same positions.
With a record 24 races next year as China returns to the calendar, plus six Sprint events schedule, there will be significant resistance to Stefano Domenicali once again trying to increase the number of Sprint events as he did for 2023. That battle may well take place at the end of next season with the Italia’s preferred 9 Sprint weekends being included in 2025.
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I think it IS refreshing that Max is open and honest when asked for his views. If you are concerned about what he might say, simply don’t ask him!
His negative views on Vegas were concerning the hype – NOT the racing itself. He didn’t change his view because he won … let’s be VERY clear about that!